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Friday, December 9, 2016

above: Humanity does not Live by Bread Alone ; What about Democracy and Political Literacy in our Educational Curricula?Letters to 'The Age' and 'The Herald-Sun' from a Labor Activist (November/December 2016) ; Everything from ‘Public Debt Shibboleths’ to
Privatisation, Defending Democracy,The
Right Protest, Education for Politically Literate and Active Citizenship, and more ; Please feel welcome to read and comment on the articles, share via Facebook and so on.

Dr Tristan Ewins

Is there a public debt crisis?Or is the
Crisis one of Private Debt?

(Debt
letter One)(Unpublished)Regularly we are warned of the ‘immense
threat’ of government debt. But its
best, here, to use the measure of ‘net debt’ which also includes revenue from government
assets. (instead of ‘gross debt’ - which
does not)For example, with the
privatisation of assets like the Commonwealth Bank gross debt fell, but net
debt worsened significantly. Australian Governmentnet debt was recently measured around 18 per
cent of GDP : approximately $285 billion in an economy around AUS $1.6 billion.But HOUSEHOLD debt – ie: the debt owed by
Australian individuals and families – is over 100% of GDP -over $2 TRILLION.Private debt is clearly the bigger threat. The
Liberals try and offset private debt with public austerity – in health, education,
welfare, infrastructure. But these areas are often more crucial to our
well-being than private consumption.So
arguably we need a BIGGER social investment in these areas as opposed to cuts. We
need a more balanced approach ; containing debt long term – without gutting
public services and infrastructure, or destroyingjobs and growth. And now is a good time to invest in potential
income bearing (and other) government assets – on account of low interest
rates.A big investment in public
housing could also make housing more affordable –making significant inroads into private
household debt.We also need an industry
policy to achieve full employment –and full time jobs for those who want them.That could offset an ageing population
without resort to measures like raising the age of retirement.

(Debt
letter Two)(Published) Bruce
Hambour (Herald-Sun Letters, November 2016) writes that debt is getting so out of control
that welfare must be cut to rein it in. But why start by cutting the payments
for some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians when there are
other options?Why not drop massive
corporate tax cuts, and other tax cuts for the well off?Why not cut back Superannuation Tax
Concessions – mainly beneficial to the well-off – whom taxpayers are
effectively subsidising by tens of billions every year?Also public sector debt is actually
negligible compared with private debt.(approx. 30% of GDP compared with 200% of GDP)The housing bubble hasn’t helped ; and what’s
needed are big investments in public and social housing (to increase supply),
and in infrastructure and services (to ensure quality of life).Also Conservatives attempt to play the
working poor of against the vulnerable welfare-dependent.(divide and conquer) That’s better fixed by
raising the minimum wage, and improving the social wage for the working poor.

Herald-Sun Op-Ed Describes Labor Left Opposition to Privatisation as “Extremist”.

(Published)James Campbell (Herald-Sun, 24/11) depicts
Labor Left opposition to privatization as ‘extremist’.But what grounds are there for this
opinion?Most Australians did (and
still do) oppose privatization of important government assets.And the longest-serving Australian Liberal
Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, presided over a relatively larger public sector
(and more steeply progressive income taxes) than Labor governments of the 80s
and 90s.The ‘extreme’ tag is a flippant
way of dismissing an argument without having to engage or justify your
position.‘Natural public monopolies’
(eg: in water, communications, energy) would reduce costs for the broader
economy. And Medibank Private’s recent
privatization saw private health insurance costs rise as the newly-privatizated
corporation arguably began abusing its market power.The
Commonwealth Bank can also make profits close to $10 billion now.That means our net government debt position
is much worse now because of its privatization.Since its privatization there have also been problems with fees, and the
quality of services for regions and financially disadvantaged customers.

Herald-Sun letter calls for ‘Technocracy’ in place of Democracy

(Unpublished)Simon Hammond (Herald-Sun, 26/11) claims democracy
is to blame for weak and indecisive government .Instead he suggests a kind of ‘government of
experts’. (a technocracy) But the problem is not democracy ; it is particular
practices such as poll and focus-group driven politics ; and ‘gotcha’ politics’
which neglect the substance of policy choices.Another problem is the major parties all aiming for ‘the centre ground’
; not standing up for their beliefs. (‘Convergence politics’)That means weaker pluralism. That is, less
choice.In fact we need a stronger
democracy.A free multi-party system is
meant to ensure scrutiny of public policy and social issues ; but often media
neglect the substance ; and politicians respond by playing to shallow
agendas.We need to transform our
society ; which could be achieved partly through educational curricula for
active and politically literate citizenship ; which is ideologically inclusive
andencourages students to think about –
and stand up for - their values and interests.

Responding
to Andrew Bolt on the causes of the Trump Victory

(Unpublished)Andrew Bolt calls the Trump election victory
“a revolt against the Left’s arrogance” (Herald-Sun, 10/11). But reality is
more complex than this.A neo-liberal
consensus- a particular INTERPRETATION
of ‘globalisation’ - has prevailed around much of the world, facilitated by
BOTH the parties of the Right and of the ostensible Centre-Left. Working class
people who had lost their identity, as well as their economic and social
security with the destruction of their jobs – gravitated towards a promise to
restore America’s industrial base.Trump’s old school protectionism might not be
the answer, but Nordic-style, targeted industry policy might serve better.Policies which promote high value-added
manufacturing alongside Research and Development, and promotion of information
and communications technology industrial development.The US Left needs to actively court the
working class – including white males – with policies that offer the respect
and security which could be key to building a broad electoral bloc, and rolling
back Trump’s support base.

Why Scott Morrisson and the Liberals are Wrong on Company Tax Cuts

(to both
the Herald-Sun and The Age ; Unpublished)Today (28/11)it was distressing to see Treasurer Scott Morrison in Question Time
defending massive cuts to Company Tax.He referred to Trump’s objective of a 15% corporate rate, and suggested
Australia needs to be ‘competitive’.But
the United States had enjoyed a maximum corporate rate of 35% for many years
under both Republican and Democrat Administrations.Elsewhere, the reality is that high quality
social services, education, infrastructure are ‘pull factors’ for investment as
well.And this needs to be paid for
somehow.The Conservative approach is
‘corporate welfare’.That is: the
corporate rate is cut - but workers, pensioners, families ‘pay the price’ one
way another.Through unfair ‘replacement
taxes’ like the GST , or through a neglect of services and infrastructure which
is arguably bad for investment anyway. We need international agreement to stop
‘the race to the bottom’ in corporate taxation.Without this the economy will suffer anyway – as ‘corporate welfare’
takes income away from the very workerswhose consumption supports the domestic economy.

Feminist Revolution must take account of
class ; must be based on Mutual Respect and Empathy

(Unpublished)Trish Thompson (‘The Age’, letters;30/11) reminds us of “the privileges of being
a white heterosexual male”.But she
makes no mention of social class .That
determines our quality of life ; where our kids go to school ; often the
quality of our diet and health care; whether we can pay the bills and put a
roof over our heads ; what else we can enjoy outside of work.Other factors include whether or not our work
is fulfilling ; and what economic (and hence political) power we have.Why is class usually forgotten today ; or
otherwise relegated to a subordinate position?Age, body image and disability are also relatively neglected. We are in
the midst of what might be called a feminist revolution.What’s at stake is whether or not that
revolution is broadened in pursuit of genuine mutual solidarity and
liberation.Or whether there is a kind
of ‘turning of the tables’.Many men are
reacting against discourse they see as inferring ‘masculinity’ and male
sexuality are ‘essentially bad’.Without mutual respect and empathy there will be a reaction and the feminist
revolution might fail.

Working Class Men don’t have ‘a lot to gain’ from Deindustrialisation and
the Consequence is Unemployment and Poverty

(Unpublished)Jacqueline Maley (‘The Age’, 3/12/16)writes as if men have more to gain than lose
through deindustrialisation. The reality, though, is that older skilled
manufacturing workers will not find replacement work making use of their skill
sets.And service industry jobs are
unlikely to make up for the 50,000 jobs lost in the car industry and supporting
industries .The notion that when men
take up service industry jobs that these will rise in stature is
questionable.The balance of trade is
another associated concern.It is a
function of capitalism more so than patriarchy that ‘unprofitable’ service jobs
are devalued. For example, a better deal for both aged care workers AND residents
might ‘eat into corporate profits’ – directly (eg: through higher corporate
tax) or indirectly (with a reduction in private consumption power with higher
income or consumption taxes). That said
we do need to ‘valorise’ caring (often ‘feminised’) professions.We need a re-regulation of the
most-highly-exploited end of the labour market.To reform the tax mix and extend the social wage.Resistance to the extension and improvement
of social services is most likely to come from capitalists and their advocates
in the so-called ‘political class’ rather than from working class men.

We Must be unambiguous on the Right to
Protest ; and stand against even more regressive User-Pays in Tertiary
Education

(Part-Published)David Penberthy(Herald-Sun 4/12/16) condemns the protestors
who disrupted parliament the other day as ‘ratbags’. He goes on to support
user-pays in Higher Education, arguing ‘Why should blue collar workers pay for
someone’s Law degree?”In response ;
democracies must defend liberal and democratic rights, including speech,
association and assembly.But arguably a
mature democracy – which feels secure in itself - accepts there will be
occasions where differences of principle become so steep that accommodation
must be made for civil disobedience as well.Such flexibility helps define us as a genuinely *liberal* democracy. Furthermore: Penberthy’s defence of user pays
in Higher Education ignores the fact that were a greater portion of education
costs shouldered through income and corporate taxes – then roughly people and
interests would pay in proportion to the financial benefit gained.And if we wanted to reform the Higher
Education Contribution Scheme (HECS)to
make it fairer, then we might raise repayment thresholds.There are many former students on less than
the average wage who are forced to repay loans that bear no relation to their
actual incomes.Repayment thresholds
have fallen relative to the average wage: and that is unfair.

Why Political Literacy, and encouraging Active Citizenship must Have
Their Place in Educational Curricula ‘in a strong democracy’

(Unpublished)There is a developing view (Herald-Sun
Editorial, ‘Teach don’t Preach’ , 7/12/16) that ‘politics should be kept out of
the classroom’; and that means not only that teachers ‘should not be advocating
causes’ – but also that there should be a ‘back to basics’ movement emphasising
science and maths.The problem with this
is that education needs to be for life – and while maths and science have their
place, education for politically
literate and active citizenship can strengthen our democracy and empower our
citizenry to work for their beliefs, rights and interests. To achieve
bipartisanship – there needs to be a reformed National Curriculum – which
exposes students to the ideas of BOTH the Democratic Left and the Democratic
Right, while also imparting an understanding of other ideologies.As the saying goes ‘man does not live by
bread alone’.An active and informed
democracy should have bipartisan support across the Democratic Right and the
Democratic Left.

(Unpublished)Greg Byrne (Herald-Sun, 10/12/16)
refers toeducation about “gender,
ethnicity and class” as “nonsense” that has nothing to do with finding jobs.But the Humanities and Social Sciences involve
research and writing skills ; the construction of detailed arguments , and evaluating
complex information. Also humanity ‘does
not live by bread alone’. (ie: the labour market and work) A stronger democracy (based on understanding
and participation) rests on citizens’ political literacy (understanding
political ideologies, values, movements, processes) and on their powers of
expression. The Humanities and Social
Sciences drive us to ask fundamental questions about the human condition ;
about ethics ; and thinking critically about democracy, economy and society.In a strong
democracy we must be empowered to make informed choices as citizens – regardless
of whether we perceive ourselves as being of “the Right” or “The Left”. That means imagining alternatives to current
social and economic arrangements in pursuit of ‘The Good Society’. Here, assessing the balance of wealth, power and opportunity in society is a legitimate question.

THE RED FLAG IS STILL FLYING HERE

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About Me

Tristan's areas of expertise include Australian and world politics, social theory, education, history, and computer gaming for PC. He considers himself a liberal, and also a socialist, but has also referred to himself as a left social democrat. He says such - conscious that there was once a time when 'social democracy' and 'socialism' were synonymous. Furthermore, Tristan is a long-time member of the Australian Labor Party - specifically its Socialist Left wing. He is also involved in the Australian Fabian Society. Tristan has written for many publications - including a stint freelancing for 'The Canberra Times': the daily broadsheet of the Australian Capital. Tristan's Personal Homepage is here: http://sites.google.com/site/tristanewinsfreelancewriter